The Monster In All Of Us
by aelisa
Summary: Badly written interpretation of the Lestranges. Set directly after Frank and Alice's torture. Bellatrix/Rabastan


The appearance of the night was no darker than any other in these days, so commonly cold, black and dangerous. War does that to a place. There was a buzz in the air, though. Not everywhere. In fact, in just one place. But the buzz was... exceedingly obvious to those in the immediate vicinity of the scene of the crime. The buzz? Not of good, happy feelings; rather, the more twisted, brutal side to things. Oh, and twisted and brutal they undoubtedly were...

Who? Well, murderers and torturers, of course. Servants to the infamous Lord Voldemort. No. It is deemed both wrong and stupid to speak his name. Whether this is because nobody else is 'on his level', therefore, unworthy to speak it, or whether people are simply too afraid to disagree, nobody is quite sure. All that is known - or is a just a vicious rumour invented to scare? - is that The Dark Lord wipes out anyone and everyone who dares speak his name, questions him, poses a threat to him, or holds desirable information which has proved to be useful to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

The latter of these is the reason why Frank and Alice Longbottom were sprawled across their sitting room floor, too weak to move. They wouldn't know why they were moving even if they tried. The Cruciatus Curse; perhaps the most terrible of the three Unforgivable Curses. Great, yes, but awful.

One of the culprits was cackling cruelly as she and her companions ascended a small mountain, the tinge of green flowing over it unnatural. Above them hovered a glowing green skull, a snake winding out of its mouth. The mark represented nothing good; anyone could gather that, just by looking at the thing. The snake hissed down at the world as the skull laughed along with the witch on the mountain.

One woman and three men were the figures. They reached the top of the mountain without a word; the only sounds were the woman's mad cackles and the appreciative chortles and guffaws from the men. The woman pulled down her hood with elegant white hands as she leaned back against a tree, her face split into a cruel, satisfied smile, revealed to her companions when she pushed her dark hair out of her face and pulled off her skull-like mask.

"Mrs Lestrange... don't you think you should..? I mean, your mask... if they see..." A sandy-haired boy of no more than twenty years spoke, his voice unsure. He shot a fervent glance at the man standing to his right.

The tall woman merely laughed in response, her eyes alight with an eerie madness in the soft light of the moon and drenching light of the Dark Mark. "Who, precisely, is going to see us, Barty? We are at the top of a mountain in the darkness. My hair is darker than this thing anyway." She pointed out, gesturing to the white mask she was clutching in a pale hand.

"Yes, Bella, but we are stood directly beneath the Dark Mark," reasoned a second man. He was tall and broad, with shining black eyes and hair of a similar colour. His voice was deep, gravely; the way it commanded attention in that way caused Bellatrix Lestrange to smirk.  
"So?"  
"So the aurors shall be on their way."  
"Yes, they always are." The woman cackled once more, causing the third and final man to let out a slight wince.

"Darling..." He spoke, sounding rather nervous.  
"What, Rodolphus?"  
"They'll hear..."

Bellatrix let out a shaky sigh that was more annoyed than scared. Bellatrix knew not fear. "Gentlemen, the Aurors probably have yet to leave the Ministry." She began, speaking to the group, looking from one to the next pointedly. "The only people who are likely to hear me are the Longbottoms down there, and they are not going to be giving any names anytime soon." She informed them, inclining her head towards a little house, which sat, secluded, right at the bottom of the mountain. Pretty little place, but for the haunting, green light.

"Enjoy that, Dolphy?" The second man asked, slapping the third's, Rodolphus's, shoulder with a huge grin.  
"Of course." The reply came altogether too quickly, and Bellatrix Lestrange let out yet another shriek of laughter.  
"You don't sound too sure, _darling_. What about you, Barty? How was that for your first experience with the Lestranges?"  
"I'm honoured, Miss." The youngest of the group said, though his words were plagued with hesitation.

The Lestranges were notorious. Loyal followers, if not the most loyal, of the Dark Lord, who would follow him to the ends of the earth and back were it required of them. Especially Bellatrix. The eldest Black daughter was married to the eldest Lestrange son before she'd hit the age of twenty, despite her protests. But this union had been planned before either of them had been born, and so, the pair had wed. Rodolphus, although a sadistic man, was somewhat... nervous. He always seemed to fall into his wife's shadow, his wife, who seemed to have no fears, no qualms...

"Of course you are, dear boy." Bellatrix replied to Barty Crouch Jr, the son of respected Ministry employee, Barty Crouch Sr. Quite how he'd fallen into Lord Voldemort's circle, no-one was quite sure. But there is no way out, even if he should want one.

The dark haired lady laughed once more, her eyes glittering malevolently as she relived the experience of torturing the Longbottoms in her disturbed, twisted mind. "Rabastan, you enjoyed that, didn't you?" She asked the taller Lestrange brother, her own brother-in-law. The man's face twisted into a wicked grin in reply. "Good." Bellatrix concluded with a satisfied smirk. "You know our Lord likes it when we enjoy it." She said, although it seemed as if she were simply speaking aloud to herself rather than to her companions.

Rodolphus shifted his weight from one foot to another as his brother lit up a cigarette. He took a long drag and then blew the smoke out into the air, before leaning against the tree next to Bellatrix and pushing the unlit end into her mouth with a cheeky grin, glancing at his older brother all the while. The poor boy was probably only too aware of what went on between his brother and his wife, but he was too afraid, it seemed, to say anything. Yes, the man had a temper, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that his could rival either Rabastan's or Bellatrix's. Thus, Rodolphus deprived his younger brother of the reaction he so craved.

"Thanks." Said Bellatrix, dropping her mask onto the floor next to her as she took the cigarette from her brother-in-law, careful to allow her hand to linger over his for a moment.

"Shall we go, then?" Proposed Rodolphus, his chestnut eyes scanning the mountain around them uneasily. He liked danger sometimes, but this was too extreme, not to mention stupid. Standing under the Dark Mark and laughing as if a great joke was just told? It seemed cocky. Too cocky.

"You go ahead." Rabastan grinned, glancing between the two other men plainly. "I'm going to hang about for a bit." He cast a glance at Bellatrix, who wore an expression of extreme serenity, though her eyes twinkled in the green light. She did love her damage, did Bellatrix. She also loved making Rabastan wonder whether she'd refuse him. She was thirty years of age, Rabastan twenty-five. She loved that age-gap; as if her power and person was not enough, the difference in ages assured that she was consistently in control.

Rodolphus's eyes darted between his brother and his wife once more. "Bellatrix?" He said, the name itself asking the question he dared not utter. Bellatrix snapped out of her thoughts, tearing her eyes away from the Mark – which hovered viciously in the ebony - to look at her husband, blinking expressionlessly for a few minutes before she shook her head.

"You know me, sweetheart. I do like the element of danger. I think I'll stay with Rabastan." She glanced at Rabastan, her face completely straight, "That is, of course, if it's alright with you?" Oh, Bellatrix loved to do this. Ask his permission, like it really made a difference to her whether he did or did not grant it. She was not going to take instructions from him just because she wore his ring. If he thought she would, then he was stupid.

Barty, who'd been listening to the conversation with mild interest, coughed slightly, "Come on, Lestrange." He said to Rodolphus, before dipping his head to the other two people, muttering, "Madam," at Bellatrix as he did so. So gentlemanly for a vicious sadist. None were as vicious as Mrs Lestrange, however. Some say she is mad. Others, simply evil.

Rodolphus, with momentary hesitation, closed his fingers around his wand and turned to Bellatrix, "Try not to be late." His words were spoken with as much command as he could muster when speaking to his wife (he was always a push-over when it came to her), before a loud crack resounded around the area. He disappeared. A second crack vanished the youngest of the group of Death Eaters.

"How long do you reckon we have then, Mrs Lestrange?" Rabastan asked, moving to press both hands on the tree either side of her head. "Until the Aurors arrive, that is, of course." He grinned.  
"They'll be a while." Predicted Bellatrix in a lazy drawl as her face pulled into another grin.  
"Why did you stay?"  
"I like the chase."  
"Is that all?"  
"Naturally."  
He forced his lips upon hers at these words, silencing her as he knocked the remainder of the cigarette out of her hands, his eyes wide open as he did so. She didn't move, merely parted her lips slightly, allowing him access.  
"Don't you want to play tonight, Bella?" He asked, lifting a large hand to her face and brushing some of her hair out of her face.  
"Not with you." She spat, though her eyes, always the give away in all their heavily-lidded glory, betrayed her words, and they showed her amusement and excitement.  
"Liar." He spat right back, before bringing his other hand to grab her over robe and yanking it up quickly, so the material was around her knees.  
"Liberties, little boy." She tutted, bringing one leg behind his and pulling him closer.  
"Yes, well, we have to get a move on, don't we? If the Aurors don't catch us, Dolphy might come back to watch."


End file.
